DocRob

Your patience pays off, the engine looks great and the axle is a feast for the eye. Cheers Rob

You did a remarkable job with that psycho-camoed 109, Chris. I really like the "different" appearance you achieved. The washes tied everything together to my eye. I tend to use self mixed oil color washes these days and sometimes Flory washes for effect. I like the Tamiya PLW as well, but they can be hard to remove on fragile paint surfaces. I still use Pledge for clear coating with good results, except once, where Micro Sol or Set left a foggy residue, which luckily vanished with another clear coat. X-22 is very good too and for shiny car bodies, I use Mr. Hobby GX-100, which has a perfect gloss, but is not so easy to work with. Cheers Rob

Great work on the F-4. I built the Kai version some years ago and was absolutely overwhelmed by the quality of the kit. I would build more ZM F-4´s, if there weren´t the zillions of stencils. The AK Real Colors I used, sprayed generally very well, with a even and fine finish. I had no issues mixing them in a jar with Mr. Leveling Thinner at about the same ratio you mentioned. Cheers Rob

I own the Prym thread as well and will try it, when I build my first British biplane, as it has a flat profile. EZ-line never worked for me, just too wobbly to pass through loops and tubes several times, but bought some Infini 0,135 mm flexible thread lately, which is far better to use with my rigging method. BTW, I use a sharp blade to roll the Albion aluminum or brass tubes for cutting them. Way better than using a razor saw, which causes a lot of burr. Cheers Rob

Nice progress, Carl, like these late Sheridans, with all the added bits and pieces to make them still usable. I wanted to buy the kit some time ago, but forgot about, until I saw your log. I used wax pencils as well in the past, but never liked them too much. I still prefer tweezers for handling PE, but rarely the very sharp pointed ones. Cheers Rob

This develops nicely, PW. I like your rigging efforts, which are similar to my method, but I use pre fab eyelets from Bob´s Buckles. When these are gone, I will fabricate my own as well. I prefer Chameleon fishing line for rigging, as it adds some sturdyness to the wings, whenever possible. For 1/32, I use aluminum tube with an inner diameter of 0,3 mm and outer of 0,5 mm. The fishing line got fiddled through once, then through the eyelet and a second pass through the tube, tautened and secured with a tiny drop of CA. When you choose the right diameter of fishing line, the rigging is almost self securing. Elastic thread, I use only for areas, which are hard to reach on both sides, like between the fuselage and the nacelles of my AEG G.IV build lately. Cheers Rob

Looking very good, Kevin, I like the detailed front office. I have the same kit in my stash and it itched me sometimes to start it, because I love the NMF Tempest a lot. I forgot to consider the kit for the Sandbox GB though, but will follow your progress closely. Cheers Rob

You put yourself under some pressure with such an ambitious project, Hubert. I really like the results of your printing efforts, albeit the described methods and software usage are just plain Chinese to me. Bummer with the landing gear struts. Finding long drill bits with the needed diameters will be difficult, but maybe you could push a heated steel rod through, especially when there are at least some remains of the projected channels left. As a better guide, you could drill as deep as possible with the bits available. You could also slice the struts and epoxy some rods in. Cheers Rob

Well, that´s good news, like Carl, I will be in the buyers lane. Cheers Rob

Yes, I meant drilling and inserting brass rod not tubes. i use mainly 0,5 mm brass rod for the task and glue these into the drilled holes with CA glue. If more strength is required, I use the method, I described in my Fokker D.VIII build log, using flattened brass tube with brass rod inserted. The brass rod protrudes at the ends and can be glued into the wings holes. Cheers Rob

Sorry to hear about your health conditions Peter. I hope you respond well to your medication and don´t need to be hospitalized. All the best my friend. Cheers Rob

Thank you Phil, no plans to purchase kits though, but some AM for my sandbox project and others. Let´s see how long these intentions last, when I enter the LHS . Cheers Rob

@FullArmor, @Bomber_County, @HubertB, @CANicoll, @BlrwestSiR, @belugawhaleman, @Landlubber Mike, @Martinnfb, @Peterpools and @KevinM Muchas gracias x10 hombres . There will be no more updates for some weeks, as I will be traveling a bit and when I´m back, I have to start playing in the sandbox with you guys. Cheers Rob

Pure Mad Max kick ass style and on the other hand looking so outdated and improvised. Great choice of quirky subject Martin, Chassis and wheels are looking good. Cheers Rob

Somehow, I managed to get rid of this post in its original place. Luckily, I could copy it from MSW, so it´s only slightly out of order. I worked on the interior of the Cobra Coupe, lately, installing and decaling the switchboard first, then matte clear sprayed over the decals. Last were the switches, which are glued from the backside. Next was the shifting lever, which was not easy to install cleanly, with the tiny rivets to add. Last for these steps was the fire extinguisher, which is fantastically detailed. The chrome band is made from chrome adhesive tape, instead of the kit´s springy PE part. Then the tub was installed onto the chassis, followed by the seats and seatbelts. I love MFH seatbelts, as they provide double sided adhesive tape for mounting and installing them. No risk of CA blotches, smart. Cheers Rob

Thank you Seiran, it´s my second MFH build in after my recently Crocker motorcycle build and these kits are somehow addictive. If you are willing to build high detail car or bike kits oob, this is the way to go. They definitely need another approach, as there is a lot of white metal and resin and other materials involved, but to me there is more fun into building these, as there is in most plastic kits. Cheers Rob

@ScottsGT Cool techniques Rob! When I built my 1/72 Space Shuttle I used cloth medical tape cut into squares and applied to the exterior to simulate the thermal blankets the exterior was covered with. I had to use very thick enamel paint forced into the weave to fill them up. Thank you Scott and Chris, there are indeed a lot of techniques, to come closer to realistic results in builds. Some of them I learned of here or in other places, others, I developed myself, like the cigarette paper technique. Only recently, a fellow modeler over on MSW showed a technique for replicating 1/12 carbon fiber, using tulle fabric over a metallic grey base and then spraying black over it. After removing the tulle fabric and sealing everything it looked very good. I stored the idea for later use. Cheers Rob

Interesting, what was in the box, Martin. Always good to replace as many parts on a Italeri kit . The meshes came out great way better then the plastic blobs. Will stay in your sandbox and watch you progress. Cheers Rob

I will add another wow to your already expanding collection Peter. Cockpit and especially the seat look fantastic. You are right about the sable brush prices, but there is no real way around them for figure and detail painting. I have some, but use them only for these purposes. I always clean them immediately and form the tip. For other occasions some good synthetic brushes are good enough. Cheers Rob

This looks so good, Carl. I was tempted to buy one, but now I am even more so. Cheers Rob

Nice start on the cockpit Peter and as others mentioned before the seat is a gem. I really like these high quality parts and it is demanding fun to paint them properly. Better than having to guess, where parting lines are due to soft moulding. I wonder why Eduard could or would not solve that rasterizing prob with their IP´s. I had one, which was close to unusable, the dots were visible with the bare eye. Others are so much better, like you mentioned Quinta, but printed PE ones as well, like Yahu produces. Cant wait to see your meticolous paint work with that four tone camo. Cheers Rob

Thanks for the hint, Mike. Never heard of MN Hobby, but a new chance to lay my hands onto this kit. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter and Chris. The leather cover was on my to learn list since a while. I would only use it for larger scales. Even with 1/32 seats, I would either paint the leather effect or apply other techniques, like I did once with my Skoda RSO. Luckily my wife was still smoking by that time, so I took one of her cigarettes, cut the paper to fit over the bench and backrest with diluted white glue. Then I dabbed on some brownish tones with a stiff brush for tear and wear. Followed by carefully applied black tones, also dabbed on with a stiff brush in very thin layers, et voila looks like very old leather. Cheers Rob

I´ve been blamed for worse things Mike . Nice find with the Cobra. The MFH leather sheets are really thin and very stretchy, which helps a lot. I don´t know, if I would use it for smaller scales like 1/24. I often use oils or oils over acrylic, when I paint leather. It´s a bit time consuming, but looks great in the end. With normal thinner or matte thinner you can `steer´ the shininess. The AmmoKnights seat was painted with oils over acrylic: The leather jacket and gloves are solely painted with oil colors. Cheers Rob

... meanwhile, the Cobra Coupe isn´t vegan anymore. I bought some self adhesive leather from MFH lately and decided, I give the seats a try with this. What looks better than the real thing . The seats were primed and sprayed semi matte black and then, I cut the leather patches roughly to contour. The shape of the seats is a bit difficult to cover, but the leather is luckily very thin and flexible and adheres very well. I think, with the seat belts applied and some final trimming, they will look good. Cheers Rob